Tom Wallisch clinches top honours in men’s free-ski Slopestyle finals at Breckenridge
The first of three stops on the 2011-2012 Winter Dew Tour, Nike Open, saw America’s Tom Wallisch emerge triumphant in the men’s free-ski Slopestyle finals that went down at the Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado, America, on Sunday, December 18.
His fellow countryman Nick Goepper came up with a remarkable performance as well to clinch runner-up place, whereas Canada’s Alexis Godbout finished third to round out the podium.
The 24-year-old Wallisch had stayed off his skis for most part of the previous season due to a broken shoulder blade, but did not let that affect his performance in the first major event of this season. Pitted against an intimidating line-up comprising of talented free-skiers from around the globe, the Pennsylvania battled it out for top honours during the final on Sunday.
With three urban rails and four jumps to master in the challenging slopestyle course during the final, the free-skiers had their work cut out for them. Majority of the athletes failed to complete their first run cleanly.
After a lacklustre first run, Wallisch rose to the occasion to steal the show with a spectacular run that featured a 270 pretzel 270 off into a blind 360 switch-up, switch right 900 high mute, double cork 1080 high mute, blind 450 off the wall ride before capping off his run with a back-to-back switch left to switch right double cork 1080 Jab grabs.
Earning a 92.75 for the exquisite run, the Pittsburgh-based free-skier took first place and held onto it until the very end to eventually walk away with top honours.
“Coming off kind of a bad year last year, it's just amazing to start off with a win. I would've been happy anywhere on the podium, but being on top ... I don't know. It's hard to explain. It's awesome,” said Wallisch. “I was just psyched to link up those last switch doubles, clear the jumps unlike my first run, and land clean.”
The 17-year-old Goepper landed a pretty solid second run as well, which comprised of a switch 2 on blind 2 out on the down rail, followed by a rodeo onto the down box, switch right double 9, into left double cork 1080, into back 810 out of the up-rail, into switch left double cork 9, capping off the run with right double cork 12. The run earned him 88.00 runs to put him in second place on the podium.
The defending Dew Tour champion at Breckenridge, Godbout, was returning to competition after recovering from an injured knee sustained during the Killington stop of Winter Dew Tour in January. Earning an 87.00 off his second run, the Canadian sensation finished third to make his place on the podium.
The next stop of 2011-2012 Winter Dew Tour, Pantech Invitational, is scheduled to go down at Killington, Vermont, in January, 2012.
Tags: